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According to the Article 52 of the Constitution of India, at the head of the Union Executive is the President of India. In order to be qualified for election as President, a person must be a citizen of India, have completed the age of thirty five years, be qualified for election as member of the Lok Sabha and must not hold any office of profit under the government of India or the Government of any state or under any local or other authority subject to the control of any of the said government as mentioned in the Article 58. But a sitting President or Vice President of the Union or the governor of any State of a Minister either for the union or for any state as not disqualified for election as president.

Besides the above mentioned qualifications the ordinance promulgated on June 5 1997 stipulates that there must be 50 proposals and 50 seconders for the presidential candidate. It has also increased the security deposit for the election of the President of India.

The procedure of presidential election is contained in Article 54 and 55. While article 54 provides for the creation of an electoral college constituting of all the elected MLAs and MPs, article 55 provides for the formula of uniformity in the scale of representation of different States, as far as practicably, by incorporating the method of proportional representation with single transferable vote system. The total number of votes of an elected MLA is equals to the total population of the state divided by 1000 and the result is further divided by the total number of elected MLAs from the state. The total number of votes of an MP is equals to the total number of the votes as assigned to all elected MLAs divided by the number of elected MPs.

No person can be declared elected as the president unless he secures more than half of the total votes cast. Since the election of the president is by proportional representation by means of single transferable vote the next step is to ascertain the quota. To determine the quota, the total number of votes polled is divided by the total number of members to be returned plus one and by adding one to the quotient.

The members of Electoral College indicate their preferences on the ballot paper. If none of the candidates secure majority of votes cast, the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated and his votes transferred to the candidate of second choice of voters. This exercise is continued till one of the candidates secures absolute majority of total number of votes cast.

The president is elected for a term of five years from the date on which he enters the office of the President of India and is eligible for re election according to the article 56-57. But his term office years may cut short if he resigns by writing addressed to the Vice President or is removed on charges of violation of the Constitution by the process of impeachment as laid down by the Constitution.

Every person acting as President or discharging the function of the President shall, before entering upon his office, make and subscribe in the presence of the Chief Justice of India or, in his absence, the senior most judge of the Chief Justice of India, in affirmation in the following form, that is to say- “ I —– swear in the name of God ( solemnly affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President (or discharge the functions of the President) of India and will do the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law and that I will devote myself to the service and well being of the People of India.”

Today is the third phase of polling and fate of many heavy weights and super heavy weights in the game of politics would be locked in the EVMs. In the third leg of the General Elections in the country millions of voters turned out to cast their votes though it is too hot in most of the parts of the country. There are some 107 Lok Sabha seats cross nine different states for which more than 165 thousand polling stations are assigned where the people from all walks of life would exercise their franchise. There also are involved two seats in the union territories as well and the entire exercise of polling would take almost 10 hours if everything goes fine.

All the major political parties whose candidates are contesting elections from these seats are claiming that they will finish at the top and that their parties would come up with a clean sweep thus getting a majority in the center to form new government. However, there are politicians both new and veterans who admit that it are going to be a hung parliament looking for a coalition to form a government. Out of the total of 714 million eligible voters of the country almost 144 million voters would exercise their right to vote.

Among the big shot who are going to be chosen by the common masses of India the super heavy weights include Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP’s Prime Ministerial Candidate Mr. LK Advani. There are some 1567 candidates who are contesting these seats today in the third phase of the polling. This would close elections on 372 seats. There are two more rounds to go on May 7 and May 13. The counting of the votes would take place on May 16. The other heavy weights who would be tried in the court of common public include the former Prime Minister HD DeveGowda from Janata Dal Secular, Sharad Yadav from Janata Dal United, Gurudas Dasgupta from Communist Party of India and Jaswant Singh, the former external affairs minister from BJP. One can easily see men and women queued in front of the polling stations being protected and watched by the armed security personnel in these states.  Today the states that are going to be covered include parts of Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, West Bengal, Dadar and Nagar Havelli and Daman and Diu.

Mayawati, the President of Bahujan Samaj Party and the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh was seen voting very early today in Lucknow. She said that she began her day with voting because she feels that it is everyone’s primary duty. After casting her vote in the state capital, she claimed that BSP is going to win the majority of the seats in the state. There are 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. In Mumbai, a lot of Bollywood Stars and Industrialists were seen casting their votes. Some of the notable who were witnessed include actress Sonam Kapoor, Rahul Bose, Sushma Reddy, Amrita Rao, Sonali Bendre, Aamir Khan etc. Television stars were also seen casting their votes early morning itself. Not only the people from glamour and industry but scores of impoverished tribals and people from slum also turned out to cast their votes.

     In Jammu and Kashmir, it was noticed that polling dint start well as there were few who turned out to exercise their right and it was recorded to only 12% till 11 A.M though there is a boycott of elections called by the Hurriyat Conference.  The voting was largely peaceful across the country. However, Maoist guerrillas exploded a landmine in West Bengal’s Purulia district, injuring a paramilitary trooper

The political development of India as an independent and sovereign republic has its immediate historical roots in the period of British rule in India. The British from the beginning followed a repressive colonial policy in India. Economic exploitation first sowed the seed of nationalist awakening among Indians. This feeling was slowly but surely organised into a strong movement for political freedom from alien rule. The constitutional developments are inevitably linked with our nationalist movement. From 1858 onward, various Acts were made by the British government for the governance of India. None of them satisfied Indian aspirations, mainly because they were imposed by an alien force. As early as 1922, Mahatma Gandhi had put forward the demand that India’s political destiny should be determined by the Indians themselves. Swaraj will not e a free gift of the British parliament, it will be a declaration of India’s full self expression. The act of parliament will be merely a courteous ratification of the declared wish of the people of India.

The demand for a constitution for the country being framed by its own people without the outside interference was first made by Indian National Congress in 1934 and repeated several times between 1935 and 1939. In 1938, Jawahar lal Nehru definitely formulated his demand for a Constituent assembly thus: the National Congress stands for independence and democratic state. It has proposed that the Constitution of free India must be framed without outside interference by a Constituent Assembly elected don the basis of Adult franchise. This was reiterated y the Working Committee of the Congress in 1939. This demand was however, resisted by the British government until the outbreak of World War II when external circumstance forced them to realize the urgency of solving the Indian constitutional problem. In 1940, the Coalition government in England recognized the principle that Indians should themselves farm a new constitution for autonomous India and in March 1942, when the Japanese were about to attack India, they sent Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of the Cabinet with a draft declaration of the proposals of the British government which were to be adopted at the end of the war, provided the two major political parties Congress and the Muslim league could come to an agreement to accept them. But the two major parties failed to come to an agreement to accept the proposals.

It was under the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 that the Constituent Assembly was constituted to frame a Constitution for India. The Constituent Assembly which had been elected for undivided India and held its first sitting on the 9the December 1946, reassembled on the 14^th August 1947 as the sovereign Constituent Assembly for the Dominion of India. It was elected by indirect election by the members of the Provincial Legislative Assemblies according to the scheme recommended by the cabinet Delegation. The essentials of this scheme included: the provinces elected 292 members while the Indian States were allotted a maximum of 93 seats, the seats in each province wee distributed among the three main communities, Muslims, Sikhs and the General, in proportion to  their respective population, Members of each community in the Provincial Legislative Assembly elected their own representative by the method of proportional representation with single transferable vote, the method of selection in the case of representative of Indian States was to be determined by consultation.

As a result of the Partition under the Plan of June 3, 1947 a separate constituent assembly was set up for Pakistan. The representatives of Bengal, Punjab, Sind, NWFP, Baluchistan and the Sylhet district of Assam (which joined Pakistan by a referendum) ceased to be members of the Constituent Assembly of India, and there was a fresh election in the new Provinces of West Bengal and East Punjab. Hence when the Constituent Assembly reassembled on 31^st October 1947, the membership of the House was reduced to 299. Of these 284 were actually present on the 26^th November 1949, and appended their signature to the Constitution which was finally passed.

Aam Admi Ke Badhte Kadam Har Kadam Par Bharat Buland

The campaign for the 15^th . Every party has come up with their election manifestos. Every party is trying to lure the voters to vote for them. Congress also has come up with a bundle of promises that it would want to fulfill once back in power after the elections. Most of the critics feel that the congress party is still trying the same age old guns and stance. Once again the party is banking on the issues related to the weaker sections and the minority sections of the society. Well it is not an incorrect approach. The only problem is that this is not a new approach. This is the party which has been in power for decades. In fact the party that has ruled India almost every 5 years in a decade since independence. Thus the common man of India expects a lot from them. There is a lot of pressure on the party because of the fact that it is the party that was in power the longest in India and they already have their government which they will have to defend. This is what congress is asking in its manifesto, “We seek a fresh mandate on the basis of our heritage, record of service and vision of the future. We reaffirm our unflinching commitment to the welfare of all our people, especially to the well-being of the weaker sections of our society.  

 When you look at the manifesto of the congress you will find that the congress has compared itself with every other party that is not a part of UPA – the alliance that it has with other regional and national parties to form government in the Center. Congress talks about its past and has tried make fun of its main opponent BJP which look a bit immature. Like other parties it has talked about the fight against terrorism. Though it has once again stressed on the decentralization by bringing in the song of Panchayati Raj. I do know how much impact this can make in favor of congress.

The congress has promised that there would be a balanced approach in dealing everything as it did in the past. It has stressed that because of its balanced approach only the country in standing in a good stead though recession has hit almost entire world. It has claimed that it created balance between the public sector and the private sector to ensure that the growth is not hindered. It has assigned important roles to the cooperatives and self help groups. There is a balanced between building of a refreshed modern economy and imparting a new thrust on the traditional industries. The balance between promoting employment in the organized sector and protecting the lives of those in the unorganized sector has been stressed upon. It has mentioned the balanced between the urban parts of India and the improvement of the quality of life in the villages. Congress claims the balance between the globalization and benefits being flown to the local levels.

 There are many other things that have been discussed in the manifest of the congress. I would wonder if that can help them fetch votes. This is because of two things. One the Indian voter never looks at statistics. Second Indian voter needs and interpreter to understand what exactly congress has said in its manifesto. Indian voter would not be able to understand how the balanced approach helped India stay away from recession? There are many other questions. The only thing that attracts the voter is the approach of a political party. The way the political leader of congress have dealt with the voters in the past 5 years and of course now there is a huge possibility that the voter of India would give a second chance to the congress and its alliance because no matter  what promises other political parties have made in their political manifestoes congress has worked for the past 5 years and they also have put their government on the stake on some issues which the voter of India understand. There should not be any surprise if congress comes to power again. They really have made life easy in the past 5 years which was not experienced earlier.

In the DLF IPL, popular for its unorthodox style and the controversies, has added a new chapter with the introduction of “Super Over”. Unlike the T20 format of cricket as introduced by ICC, if two teams finish at the level score then the decision would be made by a “bowl out”, in which six ball would be bowled to the stumps and which ever team hits the maximum number would win. I believe you remember the game between India and Pakistan in the T20 world cup where India win the game in the bowl out only. This was expected in the game between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata knight riders as well however IPL showed something different. A super over was played in which batting first KKR (read Kolkata Knight Riders) scored 15 runs. Batting second Yusuf Pathan from Rajasthan Royal very easily made the score and won the game for his team. We’ll discuss that as well.

The concept that IPL has brought into the game of cricket has changed the nature of the game. Never it was seen game being played in sponsored clothes, cheerleaders dancing and shouting after every wicket out and after every boundary scored, people in the stadium playing music and dancing. It was said to be game of gentlemen. Even the audience was expected to be silent and watching the game calmly as it happens in the game of tennis. However IPL has turned the face of the coin and more or less IPL cricket is like Football played in Europe and other countries where fans go crazy and the clubs rain money on the players like anything.  IPL also has made dreams come thru. People always wondered what if Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasurya would open the innings. How lethal can they prove for the bowlers? Well, here you see. Mumbai Indians team has them as their opening pair. And as expected they are blasting almost every ball and have created a panic in the bowlers.

The game of cricket has changed into a battle field with the warriors imported from almost every possible part of the world to their sides to win this battle. You see Chris Gayle and Brandon McCollum open of KKR. You see two brothers fight with each other. Yusuf Pathan and Irfan Pathan. One bowls and the other bats and the vice versa. The fight is still on… keep watching.

Coming back to what happened in the super over game; once again it got proved that a good player can never always be a good captain. For a captain there needs to be some other qualities. This is what I saw in that game. Ganguly was ready with his helmet on for the super over, but don’t know what happened and Gayle and McCollum were on the crease for the super over. It dint stop here. When you know that you have only 15 runs and you have to defend 6 balls to win the game and on the top of it considering the fact that Yusuf Pathan is the batsmen who along with his brother Irfan Pathan has blasted the Sri Lankans in the T20 game played in the series in Sri Lanka this year, how can you even think of giving the chance to Ajantha Mendis. With all due respect to Ajantha Mendis, he is not the bowler who should be bowling in the super over like thing and that too in front of Yusuf Pathan. Well we have seen what could have been the result. I wonder why John Buchanan and McCollum could not think about Ishant Sharma. Do they consider his a second line bowler? If the answer is yes than I would request them to go back and see the damage he has made to their home teams.

Yes, Ishant bowled every batsmen including Hyden in Australia itself and for McCollum, it is not too long ago when India snatched the ODI and Test series from Kiwis at their home and McCollum was part of that team. Of course Ishant had a great role in the same. Well I would suggest Shah Rukh Khan to sit back and think which way he wants to take his team. No one likes the player of the status like Gayle, Ganguly and McCollum and Ishant should keep on losing games as if they are just a second level national team. I would be surprised if this all continues and still we see KKR in the semifinals of this edition of IPL. All the best.

BJP: DETERMINED LEADER, DECISIVE GOVERNMENT

With refreshing thoughts on decision and determination, BJP has projected Lal Krishan Advani as its prime ministerial candidate. In its election manifesto, BJP has promised very new ideas which though were talked by common man on “ BAATON KE ADDO PE”(places where common people meet and talk) like pan shops and chai walas, like a strong implementing strong measures to deal with terror and more importantly Pakistan etc. the very innovative thought that BJP has put into this year’s election manifesto is to touch a common man’s thinking.

BJP has clearly mentioned  that it would bring back the black money from the foreing banks within 100 days of its government if they come to power. Advani was also heard saying that they do not mind another nuclear test if voted to power. It would like to bring a paradigm shift in the way the issues related to foreign policy are dealt. For cross border terrorism, BJP  has promised that a tough action would be taken against the groups and the countries who harbor them. “ BJP will send out a simple message, loud and clear, to terrorists and their sponsors. They will have to pay a heavy price for each innocent life lost. Retribution will be swift and exemplary,’’ the manifesto said.

 The BJP manifest promises that its government will put the poor first. Some of the promises that it has made to the poor of India include providing 35 kg of rice or wheat everymonth to all below poverty line families at the rate of Rs 2 per Kg. there would be coupon system that would be brought into practice and the coupons can be redeemed at public distribution centers and other private outlets. BJP has promised that it will waive off all the existing loans to the farmers and would give away new loans at the rate of 4%. It also plans to introduce a Farm Income Insurance Scheme to insure the price and produce.

On the economic front, BJP plans to make a massive spending on infrastrucute projects to ensure that new employment opportunities could be created. Would bring schemes to encourage private industry and service sector. It promises to bring a low tax, low interest rate regime. The most attractive part for a common middle class man: it would exempt personal income tax for those earning up to 3 lakh per annum which would be 3.5 lakhs for women and senior citizens. Also there would be not interest on income from bank deposits for all except corporate and those who have business income coming to bank accounts.  It has plans to exempt the members of armed forces from paying tax. BJP plans to set up a separate pay commission for the armed forces. It also promises to implement one rank one pension schemes.

Other development works include the generation of an additional 120,000 MW which would be possible by speedy completion of the projects going on the ground or on paper. It plans to promote the renewable sources of energy so that the dependency on the import of the fossil fuels should be reduced.  Study loans to be made cheaper for the youth. BJP will  create 1.2 million  IT-enabled  jobs  in  rural  areas. Computer prices will be drastically  cut  to make  it affordable  to every section. All educational  institutions will have  internet  facilities within 5 years. Broadband connectivity to every village.

The list of the promises that BJP has made in it manifesto goes on and on. The question that comes into my mind is whether it would be able to implement all these. We have seen in the past that the parties come and go and the conditions  do not change the way they are projected on the paper at the time of elections. Still if some feels that all these can be done he may go to vote for BJP. To my mind all this is only possible if the would be BJP government works for the first 100 days as it has promised to bring back the black money. Yes that money is the most important thing to change everything in india. The problems that they have highlighted in the form of manifest are there. All we do not have is the money to address them. Shall we give a chance to BJP?

RAHUL GANDHI.

Congress a party with almost a history of 200 years has been revived by young Rahul Gandhi. Opposition parties are scared of what his is doing and the way his popularity is increasing. Everyday we get news of his adventures be it going and living with the slum dwellers or attending a political rally with Omar Abdulla in Kashmir. Youth in the county is much inspired by him. This soft spoken, cultured, educated and more importantly responsible young politician has changed the way people looked at Congress.

Born on June 19, 1970, the only son of former Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, presently the Congress president, Rahul is looked as future Prime Minister of the country. Though there are some chamchas in the congress who have voiced that Rahul should be projected as Prime Ministerial candidate this elections only but Rahul put a stop on all those rumors by saying that he is not enough experienced to hold the chair of a Prime Minister which is true as well. With people like Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram and of course Sonia Gandhi who have seen the Indian Politics and the Country for decades Rahul is truly very new in the field.

This great grandson of the first Prime Minister of Free India, Pt. Jawaharlal Lal Nehru, had his schooling at Modern School, New Delhi. In education he enrolled for History (Hons) at St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi. He has also completed a four-year AB course in Economics at Harvard University. He was transferred due to security reasons to Rollins College in Florida. He has received M. Phil in Development Economics after attending Trinity College, Cambridge.  He has worked as a financial consultant for a company at London. Now days he is active in Politics. He became the second member of the fifth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family to enter into active politics. He won a seat in the 2004 parliamentary election from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh by a margin of 300,500 votes.

Though critics have condemned his views of counting the 1971 break up of Pakistan into two and creating of Bangladesh as his family achievement as this statement invited severe criticism from different political parties, now Rahul has learnt how to speak something politically correct. He knows now that he is free to speak whatever he wants but should stay in limits. Not only from other parties but the Congress has also mended Rahul’s words and have not liked wherever he was not correct which Rahul accepted and changed.

 His special interests include promotion of the primary education. Issues related to the empowerment of Dalits and other oppressed sections of the society also find place in Rahul’s interests. Reading, internet, listening to music, playing chess and flying are his favorite pastimes. The sports that he likes include scuba diving, swimming, cycling, playing squash, target shooting etc.

With IPL season two, we also have here at home another IPL going on and in fact it was this IPL that forced the DLF IPL season 2 to go out of the country. I am taking about the INDIAN POLITICAL LEAGUE. As the country is going for the general elections, there were questions about the security both for the players and the politicians. Also the players from abroad were concerned because of the recent attacks in Mumbai and Lahore. Well as expected the politicians won and the players had to look for another ground as at home it was politicians who were playing. So the players decided to go to South Africa and play there.

Now what matters here is that we need to think what is more important. Obviously we need to vote first because it is our moral duty and duty comes first. The country should get a stable government in time. Thus it was decided that the elections cannot be postponed. The game of cricket may wait for sometime but elections cannot. People of India should exercise their right to get a new government. They are hopeful of things to change. With recession going on across the globe everyone expects a new government to come and change things. People need jobs people need stability, people need security and so we cannot stay hung for merely a game of cricket. I feel it was a right decision.

In the Political areana, the game of shoe throwing has become very popular. What a journalist started by thowing his show towards BUSH the former president of the United States has become common now in the political rallies. In fact, in India a thing becomes popular very easily. A few years back a little boy called Prince fell into a boring well. And there it started. Every other day there was a news of a child sitting in the well and  rescue operations being on. A journalist threw shoe at P. Chitambram as a protest to what congress did to the 84 roits accused Tytlor and Jakhar and once again it started. Somebody threw shoe at the political ralley of Mr. Lal Krishan Advani. Then there was a new of someone throwing shoe at Mr. Manmohan Singh’s ralley. I do not understand what exactly these shoe throwers want to say or prove.

India is  a country with values. We have customs and traditions which are as old as the human civilization. I do not know how come they forget to respect the elders. If we are angry with our father or grand father or for that matter  anyone who is elder in age we can express our disagreement through different ways but throwing shoes. This is not what our culture tells us. I think person should be booked under section 302 for throwing shoe at anyone publicly or privately. When you throw a shoe at someone you try to kill his image, the respect he owes and owns. No. this is not right.

Media and the law enforcement agencies has great role in it. Media should not give much hype by asking what does he wants when he throws a shoe. This motivates others that if you want to be listened by media and through them by the country or the world just throw a show on someone. No matter what is the reason. Entire nation is going through problems. We get problems in our family. The magnitude of the problems may be low or high. People have lost jobs, they have bills, EMIs to pay. But this doesn’t mean that everyone should start throwing shoes. Law enforcers should deal with these antisocial anticultural people in a bit tougher way.

With new location for the second edition of the much awaited IPL T20 tournament has forced the advertisers and big companies who were planning to put their commercials and on ground advertisements to step back. Now that the tournament is being played in South Africa the key advertisers like Hyundai, havell’s and Reebok along with other advertisers have decided to cut down their budgets for the tournament.

The spending on the on ground advertisements and promo spends for the IPL last year were more than 150 crores. It was expected that this year for the second edition of the game tournament the spending on the same would go up by 40% or even more. It was more than Rs 500 Crores for on air advertising which the advertising agencies were expecting.

 

Reebok, the key brand for sports and fitness items is expected to cut down its budget for the tournament by 15-20%. This may be noted that Reebok is the sponsor for teams like Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders, Bangalore Royal Challengers and the Chennai Super Kings. The company believes that the charm and excitement for the tournament would not equal to what it was last year since it is not being played on the home grounds and in front of the home crowd. Reebok generated a good amount of sales from on ground promotions which it doubts would be repeated because of the fact that the home crowd would not be interested the way it was last year as the tournament is not being played in India. Any advertisements outside India would mean that the company will have to activate its marketing efforts outside India as well and this would mean that the revenue and profits would be shared with the same.

Havell’s on the other hand has confirmed that it has reduced Rs 7-8 crores allocation for on ground promos at each of the domestic venues. This company is the key associate sponsor on air. It is reworking on its spending for the on air advertising. It has plans to spend Rs 30 Crores for on air promotions this year. On the same lines Hyundai also plans to cut down its spending. It would have backed its plans to carry on with the on air and on ground marketing activities if the tournament would have been played in India. Since that possibility is ruled out by the BCCI and IPL management by conducting the tournament outside India Hyundai is also re working on the on air spending budget.

Most companies have nearly 20% of the value of team contracts for on ground marketing activities like puring rights in the stadiums, meeting players, and free tickets that can be leveraged. Now that the tournament is being played outside the country meeting players and free tickets to the games played on the local stadium is not a possibility to attract people, it is quite obvious that the companies are not attracted to attract the public like they were last year.

The leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP (BHARTIYA JANATA PARTY) and the NDA (NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE) in the 2009 general elections is Mr. L.K. Advani.

Right from 1980 when BJP was formed, Advani has served its party. He has been the president of the BJP for the longest period since its inception. It’s been approximately 3 decades that Mr. Advani is in the active politics. He became the Home Minister and then the deputy Prime Minister in the Vajpayee government of 1999-2004 under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

He was born on 8 Nov 1927 in Sind before independence. He went to St. Patrick’s School Karachi. During schooling itself he joined the RSS- Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, commonly known as Sangh pariwar.  He is regarded as a person with great intellectual ability. The man of strong principles Mr. LK ADVANI has always extended his unwavering support for the idea of a strong and prosperous India. He has never compromised on his core belief in nationalism as evidenced by prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, still he has shown a flexibility in the political responses when the situation demanded.

At the age of 14, when he joined RSS, ever since he has dedicated his life to the service of the nation. Though he was one of those millions who saw the independence of India sadly as they had to leave their homes because of the partition of the country. Amid the terror and blood shed of the tragedy of India’s partition, his family came to India. All these tough times turned him a tough man. He is considered as the Iron man in the Indian politics. He saw hate and disharmony during partitions which turned him to social worker who had a desire to create a more secular India. He continued his work as RSS pracharak in Rajasthan once he was in India after partition.

It was Advani’s efforts which he did during the latter half of the 1980s and 1990s that BJP came up as a major political party after congress. During the general elections of 1989, the party won 82 seats. It was a major bounce back as compared to 2 seats which it got in the elections of 1984. Later in the elections of 1992 the party got 121 seats and this story continued to 161 in the general elections of 1996 and made a watershed in the world’s biggest democracy. The country saw for the first time Congress being dethroned from its prominent positions after independence. BJP came up as the single largest party in the Lok Sabha. An emotional individual with strong family ties, Advaniji has said that ‘nature dangles happiness and meaning before us all, insisting only that we choose between them, but I have had the good fortune of experiencing both, and in abundance’. Today, Advaniji asks the people of India to make the right choice, in choosing a leader who has lived through the mistakes of India’s past, and looks forward to ensuring that India becomes more united, stronger and stands taller with its Tomorrow brighter than its Today.

As a party president, he gave top priority to bring in fresh and young blood into his team. This made him call leaders like late  Pramod Mahajan, Kedarnath Sahni, Krishan Lal Sharma and Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi. He remembers that Mr. Mahajan was just 37 years of age the still he attracted everyone in the party. Mr. Mahajan was a man of exceptional organizational and oratorical abilities. Then Mr. Advani also introduced people like Sushma Swaraj, M Venkaiha Naidu, Arun Jaitley and this list goes on and one. The person whom Mr. Advani always give maximum credit after his inclusion in the party is Mr. Jaswant Singh who did not come from RSS background but, nevertheless, emerged as a prominent leader soon.

For the common man, the voter of India, Advani has a message. He says,” We who are in public life have the responsibility to ensure that your vote is translated into good and responsive governance. As far as the BJP is concerned, I want our government to be judged by your expectations. I say this because we know what your expectations are. To enable you to succeed, to enable you to build a great India, the BJP promises you, I personally promise you, initiatives and reforms in five major areas. First, we will work to ensure that each of you will have access to the best education possible. Second, that even the poorest student will receive financial aid to complete his or her education and improve their ability to find jobs that match their talents and abilities. Third, we will ensure security – so that you are able to live and travel without fear and work anywhere in this great country.  The problems of terrorism and naxalism will be tackled with a firm hand. Fourth, we will work with you to protect our environment so that you can inherit a green and flourishing India.  Our holy rivers, our lakes, our mountains, our forests, our wildlife, our sea shore — all these are a part of India’s priceless natural resource. It is our duty, the duty of both the Government and the people, to preserve this resource. Finally, we will work with you to improve our existing cities, to build beautiful new cities, to so improve amenities in our villages that you don’t feel compelled to leave them to go and stay in some urban slum.”

IPL is a success story. People do think that it is not good as the game of cricket is ignored for money. Well for me it is the globalization of cricket. When we go to choose a dress for occasion we would want to get the best possible brands when it comes to shirts, pants, shoes etc. So is the case with this tournament. You can buy the best bowlers, batsmen, fielders available provided you have the money in your pocket to buy them. On the top of it the spectators and the viewers who watch it over the television find it more interesting than what the game looks like in the conventional mode when players play in whites only. You get to see the glamour and entertainment along with the game of cricket. What else do you need? It is all courtesy the Indian premier league commonly known as IPL.  Yes one thing is for sure that there is nothing for those who do not have money. Right from watching over the television to become a franchise and buying the players, it is money that plays a pivotal role. If you feel that I have exaggerated this then I would like to site an example of Mahindra Singh Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh who decided to miss the Award ceremony of Padma awards at the Rashtrapati Bhavan because they had endorsements with the commercial making companies to be done. Convinced enough?

The richest cricket control board in the world, the Board of Control for Cricket in India or BCCI is an independent body that works under the Government of India. The Prime minister of India along with other ministers and departments and to forget the common masses never forgets to express their good wishes and blessings whenever the Team India wins so that the team feels motivated and performs better in future and of course the nation feels proud of them. With the kind of response Dhoni and Bhajji has shown to the national awards the debate is on to decide to take away their names from the awards list. On the top of it, the whole world is going through the recession and the elections are there in the country, the IPL management team and its patron BCCI looks as if they do not care about all this. We could not hear an official statement from Bhajji or Dhoni and neither from IPL or BCCI about their missing of award ceremony that too in front of the First citizen of the nation. Though I feel that all of them owe at least and apology for this outrageousness.

  The BCCI just ignored what the situation the country is in and decided to take the tournament away from the country and keep on their “operation money making” no matter what emotional loss the common masses will feel back at home when they find that they do not have the chance to see the games at their local ground and missed the chance to see their favorite players play in front of them. Thus the BCCI has made it (NR) IPL. Worst is that this has happened in its second edition only when the tournaments has not even established its roots. This is against the management and business rules as well if BCCI and IPL management along with the team franchisees thing that this is not just a sporting tournament but business for them. No venture can start making money right from day one or here from “day two” only. It needs some time to get streamlined before it may turn into a cash cow.  I have even heard people saying that the name of the tournament should not have the first world “Indian” in it because it is no more Indian now as it has foreign players playing and it is not even played in India now.

When IPL was scheduled in India it was clashing with the other version of IPL that is the Indian Political League. After the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan the entire cricketing nations were reluctant in sending their players to the subcontinent pertaining to the security situation. The government of India showed its inability to provide adequate security to the players because of the general elections as the security forces were not enough to cover both the events, so it threw the ball in the courts of state governments who in turn were not very happy and refused to provided any security cover amid elections except a few. Thus the IPL management had to look for venue outside the country and the two favorite places were England and South Africa. The former was in the race as there are majority of Asians in that country who would have crowded the stadiums and would have provided full support on the ground to the players however the latter was considered for OPEX reasons… the money.

With the amount of money involved in the game the IPL management decided to go to South Africa as it was cheap over there though there were some predictions that the local weather there would not allow the tournament get its full swing. And this is what we have experienced now.  With wet weather conditions currently playing a spoil-sport in South Africa, Preity Zinta’s IPL hopes too seem to be washed away. After all, how long can Yuvraj Singh lead a lonely battle of carrying away his injury-hit Kings XI Punjab? All his fours and sixes went in vain. On the other hand, there is some solace for Shah Rukh’s Kolkata Knight Riders who came up triumph yesterday. Riding on the crest of Bollywood glory, Sourav Ganguly and company look more relaxed now and hope to maintain their winning streak during the remaining matches.

I thing the IPL chairman Lalit Modi should be fined for this cheap decision of choosing South Africa over England. It is predicted by weathermen that there may be more rains in the days to come which clearly means that the games would be abandoned or some ill decisions like what happened with Kings XI Punjab in the last two games, would be taken to continue the tournament. The organizers find things worse with the inclemented weather as this throws the schedules haywire. Who has or I must ask, has anybody got control over the rain god? It looks good for some when the rains comes to the rescue of the team that is going to loose but logically speaking the decision must be based on the performance and not weather. Today, when everybody means business, it would be naive to think for cricketers that rains will come to their rescue, especially in this modern version of the game where the bottom line is the result!

Yes Advertisers do get a chance to show more commercials when the game is stopped because of rain and during the rain curtailed match the highlights are shown of the previous games. But I wonder how long will it go on? There is million of business and millions of money which are at stake and when rain comes to stop a game it can spell a doom for scores of people. Are the franchisees insured against the natural calamities as well? The worst part is that IPL was for entertainments mixed with glamour and cricket. This is what for the billions of dollars have been spent. It is encouraging to see all pervasive splash of color and excitement through our televisions.

 The lighter side is that though the rains have dampened the spirits of cricketers and fans but the things are not that bad as well. The sports fraternity in India got a new dimension because of IPL. There is no harm in having a mixture of business and pleasure and with the kind of money the Cricketers are earning in India; the parents are encouraging their wards to take the game for a better future.

Rahul Dravid: the Great Wall of India. Yes this is how he is known or in fact one should say that he was known in the past before the beginning of the IPL this season. Those who have seen him playing cannot expect to see kind of batting form he is in. Opponents were scared of him in the past as well however now there is a different reason to be scared of Rahul Dravid. He has become a gladiator now days. In the past games till dates his strike rate is more than 177. Now you may clearly assume why the opponents are worried of Rahul Dravid. He is no more a batsman who will play the “tuk-tuk” cricket as the common masses in India think about him. He is more violent than Sehwag or Yuvraj now days.

This all might have happened because of the widespread criticism he experienced in the last edition because of which the team franchisee Vijay Malaya took away the captaincy of the team and handed it over to Kevin Peterson. He was called as wall because of the silence and patience he has shown on and off the field. No one has seen him so aggressive like this. In his 13 years of cricketing experience he was never seen angry or frustrated. This is evident that he has hit only 15 sixes in his 134 tests and only 40 sixes in 333 ODIs that he has played for the country. Other than being a bookish cricketer he is known to take time before he settles on the crease.

 It was said that this new format of Cricket is not for Rahul. It was none of your business Mr. Wall. It seemed true if we look the kind of performance he gave in the last edition of the tournament. However, this wall broke its silence and started pelting stones and rocks now. Every stone that this wall is made up of is answering the critics and their questions. Every delivery that is bowled to him gets and answer. He held the purple cap till 04/23/2009 matches and who knows after the end of the tournament how many runs and sixes will he be having in his kitty. He is the top performer in the past two matches for Royal Challengers. Apart from his top position on paper, his biggest achievement is that he has created an impression on the opponents - Hang on! I am still batting and unless the last ball of the match is not delivered, result will not be declared He is really a changed batsman today. In the last match against Deccan Chargers, he scored runs with the strike rate of 177.78. What a strike rate it is! Is he the same Dravid? He made valuable 48 runs in just 27 balls with five cracking boundaries and two lofty sixes. It was a tough chase of 184 runs, however, till his presence, it quite seemed possible.

He has not only changed his batting style but also have analysed the format of T20 game and that too beautifully. He was a very good analyst earlier as well. His track record proves the same. The only thing that has changed is his risk taking capacity and bold decision to hit the ball. Now he has changed the outlook and started stepping forward to push the ball towards boundry or pull it straight for the audience. His analytical skills were seen in his expression after the defeat against Deccan Chargers on Wednesday (22^nd April). He said, “We didn’t utilise the first six overs to score many runs. I think it’s crucial to utilise the first six over in this format of cricket.”

It is true that he is behaving like a wounded tiger. He is batting like a tiger now. There is no exact reason one can find. At least not that easily, however whatever be the reason, his is playing in his best form and because of this he is leading the list of favourite T20 players. Great Going Mr. Wall…..

This year the IPL T20 would be ‘bigger and better’ in its second season. With more than 12 months of preparation, this is going to be of great interest. It has taken the world into its stride. I have seen foreign player looking for the expansion of the quota a team can have. Well for that matter this year we may see the English players participating in this season. It is going to be a “boutique tournament”. At least it is one for the players of foreign origin who are going to participate in this cricket extravaganza.

Commonly known as DLF IPL 2009, this league was established by BCCI in 2007 as an answer to Zee Group’s Subhash Chandra’s ICL. With the amount of money involved in it IPL has outplayed ICL as one may see world’s top players playing in the tournament. This season would start from 18th April and would be played till May 24th 2009. The format of the tournament has not been changed from what it was in the year 2008. The eight franchisees will first play against one another in a league on home-and-away basis. The top four teams will then figure in the two semi-finals and a final

Players from England would be participating this year as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has softened its stand on this matter. Earlier it was of the opinion that its players would not participate in this cash rich tournament till 2010 due to their international commitments. But, Professional Cricketers’ Association chief Sean Morris has claimed that the Board will review its stand and players will get to play in the Twenty20 tourney in 2009 albeit only in the later stages.

Here is the schedule chart of the complete tournament.

Are the elections going to be affected by the economic crisis that we are witnessing all across the globe? There are some who are angry because of the distress. They are the people who are very less in number and are going to vote against the ruling parties in their areas irrespective if that is

 BJP OR Congress.

And this is the story you may witness in almost all the urban constituencies. Hence there total affect on the elections because of the economic slowdown would be very low. The story is not bad for the rest of India. This is because even though the global economy is going downward, India has witnessed the growth of more than 6% and on the top of it statistically speaking the inflation is very low.

The political parties have given away the tickets on the basis of caste, religion and ethnicity. Not to mention the other factors that would be considered includes the candidate’s access to resources and muscle power in some cases. The alliances will ultimately determine who is going to rule the nation because this is for sure that neither BJP not Congress is going to get majority on their own. Now that BJD has left the BJP led alliance, the BJP is facing hard times to attract new partners who could win seats and help the latter form their government in New Delhi. Congress is no exceptions to it. With Yadav’s now turned away and created new coalition with the UPA. The pre-election alliance strategies of both the NDA and UPA having collapsed, a patchwork ruling coalition will emerge post-elections, based on electoral performance. Meanwhile, Mayawati and Jayalalithaa are competing to lead the Third Front.

Now that there are emerging symptoms of remarkable tectonic shifts that may permanently change the landscape of Indian democracy. Though there is a possibility that it may take another 5 years before it may become evident in the Indian democracy. The most important symptom of the same is the rise of regional parties. These regional parties include Alkalis in Punjab, SP in UP and the same when it comes to elections this year. They all are regional parties. Though the BSP now presents n itself as a national party, its main base is a still UP Nor is this a specifically north Indian phenomenon. Politics in Assam, Orissa, ~ Andhra, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu etc is now driven by regional parties. Even the CPM draws its strength not from its politburo members but from its regional political bases in Kerala, of their own. Many of these new leaders are not the children of erstwhile royalty or scions of great political families. They have risen from the ‘aim admit’ ranks and honed their survival skills in the rough and tumble of politics from below. Scions of political families, raised in the belief that they were born to rule, may one ‘day find themselves rudely pushed aside if the courtiers strategizing for them fail to come to terms with these new realities.